CANYON, Texas – Ryan Quaid earned Most Valuable Player honors after leading No. 3 West Texas A&M to its second consecutive NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship with a 89-71 victory over No. 4 St. Edward's on Tuesday evening in front of 3,402 fans at the First United Bank Center. Quaid along with Qua Grant earned All-Tournament honors after helping the Buffs became the third school from the Lone Star Conference to win back-to-back South Central regional titles.
WT earned the No. 2-seed in the Elite Eight and will face No. 7-seed Southern Indiana on Wednesday, March 27, at 6 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
THE BASICS,
The Matchup:#3 West Texas A&M 89, #4 St. Edward's 70
Records:#3 West Texas A&M (34-3), #4 St. Edward's (30-4)
Venue:First United Bank Center
Location:Canyon, Texas
Quaid led all scorers with 29 points while recording 11 rebounds for his 10thdouble-double of the season while recording a career-high five blocks. Brandon Hall filled the stat sheet with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists with Grant and Gach Gach scored 14 apiece.
The Buffs hit two of their first three from beyond the arc as the game was tied at 15-all at the under 16-minute media timeout. The game would remain close until St. Edward's went on a 5-0 run with under 11 minutes remaining to take their largest lead of the game, 26-21.
WT would go scoreless over the next five minutes but take the lead thanks in large part to the energy of Derrick Geddis on the offensive and defensive side of the floor. The freshman would go 1-of-2 from the charity stripe after pulling down an offensive board before getting an easy layup on a nice assist from Hall to end the scoring drought to tie the game at 26.
Quaid took over in the final three minutes of the half scoring seven of the Buffs final nine points as they lead 43-33 at halftime after shooing 12-of-29 (41.4%) from the floor, 5-of-17 (29.4%) from beyond the arc and 14-of-15 (93.3%) from the free throw.
The Buffs continued to score at will in the opening minutes of the second half with three straight layups to force a SEU timeout. The Hilltoppers responded with a jumper from Lucas Doria on the following possession but had no answer for Quaid as he hit a fade away jumper followed by a monstrous dunk on an outlet pass from Joel Murray.
With just under 14 minutes remaining in the contest, Gach hit a jumper followed by a pullup three from Hall to take the lead to a game-high 26, 65-42. SEU's Ashton Spears wouldn't go down without a fight as he sparked the HIlltopppers offense with a pair of deep three-pointers.
WT's lead was down to 14 at the five-minute mark before Quaid converted the old-fashioned three-point play to help the Buffs retake momentum. Gach followed that up with a three from right in front of the Buff to make it 82-64 and send the fans into a frenzy. Another layup from the senior from Fort Collins, Colo. combined with a three from the right corner from Hall in the final three minutes of regulation guaranteed that the Buffs would finish a perfect 17-0 at home.
WT finished the game 29-of-58 (50.0%) from the floor, 9-of-29 (31.0%) from the three-point line and 22-of-26 (84.6%) from the free throw line to go along with 37 rebounds, 14 assists, six steals and six blocks.
